Candidate Profile: Erin Huntley

State Rep. Leonard Spencer had barely been sworn in in 2024 when Erin Huntley launched her campaign to claim his seat to represent House District 45, which includes Oakland, Winter Garden, Windermere, the area around Disney and parts of Osceola County.

She’s been campaigning ever since. Election Day is Nov. 3. State representatives serve two year terms and earn $29,697 annually.

Huntley, 46, cuts a familiar figure in Republican politics where she has chaired the Orange County GOP since 2022 and last year took over the chair of the Chairman’s Caucus of the Republican Party of Florida. She describes herself as a “problem solver,” and says she has “the right skill set to go ahead and be a problem solver for our area.”

“I’m a friendly face in Tallahassee,” Huntley said in a recent interview. “We're the minority party in Orange County and Osceola County, but I'm part of the majority in Tallahassee. And being able to get things done, I think, is something people want and deserve. You know, Congressman [Daniel] Webster is retiring. He had such a great career as someone who was able to get things done, bring money back for infrastructure as this area changed and was growing, and I want to continue to do that because the people deserve it.”

Born in Buffalo, Huntley grew up in South Florida before attending James Madison University and landing in Orange County where she worked for JetBlue during its start-up phase.

A married mom of three — two boys and a girl, all of whom are attending, or graduated from, Foundation Academy — education is a key plank in her platform. The challenge of finding appropriate educational resources for her youngest son, who is dyslexic, motivated her to run for office.

“For many years, I had to drive him halfway across the state to get the education he needed,” she said. “And I just thought to myself, If we live in the best state, in the best country in the world, why are we having to run through all these hoops to get the education that he deserves, and many students in our area needed as well?”

(Her son, now a sophomore in high school, is thriving, she said.)

Huntley said she also wants to work on getting people with different political affiliations talking to each other again.

“There’s just a lot of, you know, Facebook warriors … but, you know, neighbor to neighbor and friend to friend and coach to parents and teacher to parents, we have a lot in common,” she said. “We have an environment now where things are so polarized that people stop talking to each other … that’s something I think I can continue to work on here, that we start talking to each other and realizing that we have more in common, and that some of the major challenges are the major challenges no matter whether you have a Republican or Democrat after your name.”

The campaign finance database shows that Huntley has raised $431,740, which has included TK AMOUNT from the Republican Party.

Here, Huntley answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

If elected, what are the three most pressing problems in your district that you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

Affordability. I believe we need to address the affordability crisis head-on. We can do this by enacting property tax reform, expanding educational opportunities that don't require large amounts of debt, and fighting fraud to cut insurance costs. The average HD 45 resident has seen their property tax bill skyrocket. I support reducing homestead property taxes, while protecting schools, emergency services, and infrastructure. I also think that we should make vocational opportunities available to all students who want them, recognizing that college is not for every student. Finally, I would work to reduce fraud in insurance to lower the cost for Floridians.

Education. Every student deserves a path to success, but as a mother of a child with special needs, I understand that path looks different for everyone. I will fight to ensure every child gets the education they deserve. This includes expanding vocational training in schools to show students all paths available and supporting a parent's right to have a voice in their child's future. By connecting our students directly with high-paying jobs straight out of high school, it encourages them to stay living and working right here in HD 45 long after they graduate.

Infrastructure. Our district has exploded in population recently because of the great quality of life provided in HD 45, but the local infrastructure has struggled to keep up. As your Representative in Tallahassee, I pledge to work tirelessly to bring home money to the district to invest in our community and address the congestion head-on. Also, I have been honored to be endorsed by every local police and fire department in the area, highlighting my commitment to prioritizing first responders and public safety.

Why do you deserve to elected in this race?

I'm running for State House to be a voice for the families of District 45. As a community leader and a mom, I know the challenges Florida families face, and I am ready to fight for their future in Tallahassee.

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?

As talked about above, I plan to reduce homestead property taxes, expand debt-free vocational and educational pathways, and crack down on insurance fraud to lower costs for HD 45 families.

Will you vote Yes or No on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?

I support reducing homestead property taxes, while protecting schools, emergency services, and infrastructure. Homeowners need relief. I understand the concerns of our first responders, and they trust me to take care of them no matter what happens. That’s why all local law enforcement and firefighters have endorsed me in this race. If the changes to the Property Tax amendment pass, we must find solutions for cutting wasteful spending first.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?

As someone who has talked with thousands of voters, I understand affordability is the #1 concern across our district. I support any way to lower that cost for people in HD 45 and plan on working hard to build on the legislation already passed on data centers.

What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida?

Building on the success of the Everglades restoration, I believe now we must move towards protecting our local water resources. My focus will be environmental appropriations for septic to sewer nearby our local lakes. Additionally, I am supportive of water infrastructure innovations including nonpotable water and desalination. For water quality, we can benchmark from other successes across the state as well as locally.  In Central Florida, Lake Apopka was one of Florida’s most polluted lakes, and now, with the conservation efforts, wildlife is returning to the area.

If Amendment 3 passes, there's been discussion about a state trust fund that would help municipalities to cover lost property taxes to fund police and fire departments. What's your position?

We have a couple scenarios here. We have the scenario that it passes, and we have fiscally restrained counties, which we're not one of. But we may have fiscally restrained municipalities. I also know that there's a large appetite that if Amendment 3 does not pass, Speaker [Sam] Garrison as well as future-Governor [Byron] Donalds do want to continue to work towards property tax relief for homestead properties. So, I think in either scenario we're going to have property tax relief.

I think that there's a lot of us, especially on the conservative side, that are really committed to making sure that the right sizing of government happens. What that means is prioritizing the role of government. The role of government is to keep people safe, so that puts public safety, fire, you know, infrastructure, you know, making sure the roads don't have, aren't full of potholes. All of those things come up, float up to the top, because that's what the role of government is.

That means that some of the things that may lose priority are some other projects that are nice to have, not need to have. So I think it's more of a right-sizing of government … Depending on the scenario that we have, I wanna make sure that we fund, um, the top priorities of government first. And if that means that there needs to be a trust fund, then, then we'll have to look at that for sure.

In recent years, the Florida Legislature and the governor's administration has acted more than 50 times to take away the ability of local governments to make decisions about everything from the use of plastic straws or gas-powered leaf blowers to the height and density of buildings for affordable housing. Do you support state preemption of cities and counties to govern themselves?

I'm a home rule person. I may not like all the home rule decisions that are being made, but I'm a home rule person because I think the smallest government, the most local government, knows the people best. One thing that I do like to clarify with that is not taking away the rights of private property owners to sell their land. I think that's kind of been one of the little sticky points that we've had recently. People are like, Okay, you have all this land in West Orange and you want to sell it, but you can't sell it because the county doesn't want it to be developed. So kind of people get in a weird scenario, but you have a right to sell it. You have a right to own it. So kinda get in a little bit of a sticky place. But I think the local government knows what's best.

Do you support expanding the eligible uses of the Tourist Development Tax under state law? If so, how would you allow local governments to use the TDT (i.e., for public infrastructure, transit, affordable housing, public safety)?

 I'm open to talking about transit because that would be a direct support. I know we've talked a lot about, you know, airport to I-Drive and airport and attraction areas and what that could look like. But that's pretty much what I'm thinking about right now.

 People are coming here. Whether they come here to live, whether they come here to work, whether they come here to vacation. So we need to move them around and make sure they get where they want to go and have a great time and taste the Florida freedom while they're here.

School districts across Florida are facing declining enrollment and public schools closures. What do you believe are the causes of the declining enrollment and how would you address those causes?

Populations change and shift. Some of the places in Central Florida that had a lot of younger families out by UCF, for instance, Waterford Lakes area ... they just have reduced amount of families and children that are in schools in some of those areas now than they did 20 years ago when my 20-year-old was going to birthday parties out there. Some of those neighborhoods are now more rentals for college students rather than young families. So it's a natural progression that some of those schools may have less enrollment. There are more homes being built in Apopka and Lake Nona. That's where the schools are being expanded. So I think it's kind of more of a shift of where people are moving ... and people have young kids where their jobs are because they want to live, work, go to school all in a small radius. So I think we're just watching a little bit of a shift in some of the parts of the county.

 What's the biggest issue that government should address in public education?

 Education is a path to the future, so what does that path look like? What can we do to show multiple paths for everyone? I'm a big supporter of making sure we get as many options in front of students as possible so they can, while they're in high school, say, Hmm, yeah, I might wanna be an accountant. And then they take accounting in high school, and they're like, Ugh, this is not what I thought it was. But then they're not doing it in college. They're not incurring debt over it. We're taking care of some of that exploration when they're supposed to be doing it as young adults. And then also make sure we have all the choice programs as well, so everyone can be exposed to multiple careers whatever their background is to find something that they love and just put their passion and talent to work.

The reliance on digital media in education is troubling to [voters]. A lot of people would rather kids have paper books in their hands because the research is very clear that that is what works well.  A lot of what I hear from parents is we have kids that have many different needs, and how can the public school system or any other school system address those needs? And making sure teachers have the training to deal with reading difficulties, behavioral difficulties, making sure people have the training that they need.

Do you see the need for more accountability measures for education quality and/or financial stewardship at the private schools that now collectively receive more than $4 billion each year in public funds? If so, what accountability measures do you recommend?

 All of this came out of parents wanting options for their kids because they weren't getting what they wanted in the public school offerings. If we're gonna have standards, it's gotta be across the board because we have challenges in all systems. But I think it all really comes back to empowering parents.

Florida is currently seventh in the nation for measles cases because of declining vaccination rates among children. The Florida Surgeon General recently re-introduced a rule that would eliminate vaccine mandates not required by law. Where do you stand on maintaining vaccine mandates for public/private school entry?

I haven't looked at the specifics of that, and I'd like to. But I think, generally, the way we have everything set up right now — that if parents would like to opt out, they can do that — seems to have worked well in our state. But I do understand where parents are questioning the amount and frequency and additional vaccines that have come on the scene since they were a child. They're 25 and have their first kid; you have your own vaccine records from when you're a child, and you're like, Wow, my kid's getting a lot more than I ever had. So I understand where people are questioning and have concerns over the frequency and additional vaccines. But we do have a system in place that allows people to opt out if they'd like to.

[Ed Note: According to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, it's the number of "immunological challenges" (viral or bacterial proteins) in vaccines rather than the number of vaccines themselves that's important. Offit, 75, received two vaccines as a child: polio and a combo vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis that had 3,200 immunological challenges. Because vaccine science has advanced, the 17 vaccines chlidren receive today contain just 160 immunological challenges, he says.]

Do you believe that vaccines cause autism?

I'm not an expert in any of that. But I also have a family member who survived polio, so I know that we've eradicated that, and it's due to vaccines, and I'm very thankful for that. She's still alive. So that's kind of where I stand with that.

Regarding the Hope Florida controversy, would you take any specific actions regarding the findings from the grand jury report that came out? Would you pursue recovering the disputed funds?

 I haven't read through the whole report, but I know generally that we do need to protect our tax dollars, and that's really important to me. You know, I've seen the headlines. It's been investigated twice, led by both Democrats and Republicans, and we should be always fiscal hawks, but this is one of those cases where, you know, we have conflicting information on all sides. But I do think we need to protect our tax dollars. So, you know, this is kind of, you know, an opportunity for us to, you know, see if anything else comes out. I haven't seen anything beyond just those two, and I haven't read the latest one. So I'm just kind of … I am not, you know, completely … I haven't read that second report, so I don't have all of that information.

What will you do to protect voting rights and election integrity?

If you look at from 2000, when we had the hanging chads, to now, it’s like we were the laughing stock of the country and now we are the gold standard. If you think about when you have a challenging circumstance, and then you have leadership that's able to make sure our elections are secure. And we've done that here in Florida. We have other states that take days, weeks, months to get their election results. And mostly on election night, very quickly, Florida has completed the election results, which makes people feel secure in voting and by the three methods that are available: vote by mail, early voting, and voting on Election Day. So I think we've done a good job. There's been a lot of citizen participation as far as people becoming poll workers or poll watchers, being involved in the process, and that builds trust in the process. I think that's something we can really be proud of. And each of the supervisors of elections implements the laws that are being passed in Tallahassee and they do that in a way that's best for their area, whether it's urban, suburban, rural. I think we should be really proud of our state that we've come so far in 26 years, and now we're the gold standard for the country.

Do you agree with the current federal and state governments’ approaches to immigration enforcement?

If you look back at the 2024 election, that was a major issue for voters. We had record participation in the election because of that. I believe in strong borders and enforcing the law. That's what people have voted for continually across the nation as well as our state. I think that's just something that's been a concern of people for safety purposes, especially in this area. You know we’re part of a federal system, so it's a federal issue that's being implemented in the state level. But the voters did want us enforcing the law and making sure we have strong borders. And clearly, you know, our borders here are different because they're water. But, you know, we do a good job protecting that as well.

In terms of abortion restrictions in the state, do you believe those should be more strict, less strict, or stay the same?

So I'm a conservative. I'm pro-life. I think when we're talking about this, I think we can do a better job here in this state with you know, supporting people that are in, you know, a pregnancy situation, whether it be, you know, unwanted or a surprise or, you know, wanted. You know, I was a working mom when I first got pregnant, and, I think it's, you know, it's challenging to receive prenatal care when you're working during the hours and, you know, the constant appointments and everything. So something that's really interesting to me as we live in this environment is making sure we're taking care of the babies that are being born here and the women who are pregnant. So that's something that I'm more focused on than you know, each law and restriction.

If a woman were to travel to a state where abortion is legal after 6 weeks, do you believe she should be charged with trafficking?

No. Never.

Do you believe abortion pills are hazardous to the environment?

There definitely is information out there. I was given a packet about it a couple months ago. It's pretty detailed, actually. So something I would be interested in, but taking a step back from there, I care a lot about water quality here, and we've done a good job in the state. So if you look at the Everglades restoration that we've done and now what I'm interested in here locally with our water, you know, just water quality and septic and all of the things that we're dealing with here locally with Lake Apopka. I think that's something that, you know, could play into it, but I would have to read more into that.

Should contraceptive methods like IUDs and morning-after pills, which some on the right have characterized as abortifacients, remain legal?

Sure. Of course.

Would you expand Medicaid?

Part of being in this role is looking at all different proposals that come to us. Whether, you know, they are personally within a person’s personal beliefs is one thing. But it's another thing when you're a representative, you're representing a district. So I'd like to look at how that could impact our state as well as our district.

How do you balance the rights of gun owners under the Second Amendment with the rights of people to be safe in public spaces like schools and church and shopping centers and outdoor concerts?

 I think we have to have a common sense mindset with this.  I was particularly concerned that here in Orange County Public Schools, we had two or three incidents where students brought guns into the campus, and then they were never charged. So that’s troubling to me because the deterrent is not there. But I think we really need to continue to focus on increasing police presence at schools, and that can be a deterrent and making sure that people, when they do break the law, that they're being held accountable. But, you know, I think we need to be common sense about that. And we do have a state attorney who didn't prosecute in those cases, and I think that's troubling, and it makes it harder, and blurs some lines for people to know whether or not something is legal or not.

[Ed. Note: In Jan, 2025, State Attorney Monique Worrell dropped charges against a Boone High School student who was accused of bringing a loaded gun to school and placing it in a classmate’s backpack. Worrell’s office released a statement that said her office could not prosecute the case because the student was not in possession of the gun when it was found. The student might have been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor had Andrew Bain, the prior state attorney, not allowed the filing deadline for the misdemeanor charge to pass.]

Should parents be held liable if their child uses their unsecured gun to commit a crime?

I would have to look into that as well. I don't have you know, I haven't read into the current laws for that right now, so I would like to look into that. I think it's something to definitely consider. Gun safety is really important to me and to our family, and I think a lot of people that live in this district as well. So, I would like to look into that. I just haven't read much about it.